Axis wake review

[Chattwake]

As y'all may know, I've been a nautique guy for a few years now and I will always love the 210 and 230 wake, as well as the fit and finish of CC products. I've got a new 230 coming this week and I really have no affiliation with Axis, other than the fact that I know some folks that work at the company. This should be a pretty unbiased review.

I had a chance to ride behind an Axis this past Saturday. My friend Matt was able to grab a boat from the factory for the weekend and a group of us rented a house up in Tellico, Tennessee. The boat was brand new, so Friday night we had to hook up the plug and play ballast. We literally plumbed in all three of the new sacks in about 30 minutes. I wish all boat companies would just go ahead and offer plug and play systems.

Saturday morning we dropped in the boat, filled the ballast and dropped the wedge. I hopped in the water and took a set at 23.5mph (ended up at 70ft after a few w2w at 65ft - I'm still getting my legs under me for the season). I have to say that the wake was absolutely money. I mean, it was friggin amazing. All we had was the plug and play system full, the factory ballast full, the boat driver, the wedge, and another sack in the bow. Granted, it was around 3k over stock weight, but the boat pulled right out of the hole and planed out no problem.

Looking at the wake, my initial impressions were that it was not quite as rampy as what I used to get behind my '07 VLX. I like a little steeper and abrupt wake because I tend to throw my tricks too early behind VLX's (unless I ride that wake a ton and then I get used to it again). That being said, the wake retained a great transition and trough which made landings nice and easy. It wasn't like the old 210 wake, where if you land a foot outside of the lip, you're basically in the flats.

The wake also appeared to have a realy nice lip to it with no wash. My first few w2w put me out into the flats, so I let the rope to my normal 70ft (which is still short, but I've only ridden a few times this season and my ts w2w stuff is still pretty sketchy and nothing kills my bad knees like casing the hell out of the wake coming up short on a ts w2w). At 70ft, I was able to clear the wake comfortably both ts and hs without much of a cut because of the sheer amount of pop I was able to get off of the wake. No joke, I was getting absolutely booted, but it was nice and controllable too, not overly harsh and abrupt.

On my ts w2w, I tend not to pop correctly sometimes and will just bust through the top of alot of the wakes I ride. This is a problem I've had for years, and it always takes me about 10 good rides each season to work the kinks out. (I don't have my 2010 230 yet, so I'm still stuck bumming rides this year...) I don't know if it was because my form was just better on Saturday, or if it was solely attributable to the hardness of the wake, but I consistently got good ts pop behind the Axis - even when I knew I didn't leave the wake perfectly. By harness, I mean that each wake behind the Axis was noticably thicker and substantial than what I see behind alot of other boats.

Saturday, I fell once on a tantrum that I overrotated, but otherwise, I landed all of my inverts back to back, without falling (I took three good sets on Saturday too). Even though this may show how much of a novice I still am after 9 years of riding, I was able to stick a hs 3, which I've only landed once before, on my first try at the end of my second set (to my credit, I've got a handfull of basic inverts that I can throw consistently) . I think that my favorite part of the Axis wake was the lip. It retained its shape and cleanness even in decent chop. Hitting it was like getting double bounced on your old backyard tramp. I never busted through the lip, and it never rolled on me.

Sitting at my desk right now, I'm sore as hell. But, I'm not sore from taking gnarly falls, but from simply riding my ass off for three marathon sets. I'm stoked that I was finally able to spend an entire day on an Axis that was pretty loaded out and that I got a ton of good water. I really should be drafting a brief for work right now, but I felt compelled to write this to let you guys know what an average joe's impressions are about the Axis wake. I've seen some video, and none of it really stuck out in my mind. I simply was not expecting to be as pleased (frankly, shocked) and I was with the wake during my sets. If you're in the market for a boat, you should absolutely demo one of these guys WITH the plug and play system full and the wedge down.

Oh! I almost forgot. About three years ago, I remember getting into an argument with K-Dub or someone about whether a floating wedge or a power wedge was better. I simply could not understand how a floating wedge could be preferable to a power wedge. Remember, I had a VLX with a power wedge at or around this time. I'm going to have to step up here and eat some crow. The damned floating wedge, once dropped, ALWAYS seemed to be in the perfect position to keep the wake nice and clean. It seemed to keep porpoising down, and reacted nicely to changes in weight distribution (we ended up with some folks on the boat later in the day, and you know how it is when people are constantly moving around while you're riding). I'll admit it, I was wrong. I CAN see why some folk would want only a floating wedge. One thing I know now is that the inability to get a power wedge in an Axis would not stop me from buying one of these boats.

Now that I've covered the wake, a few other observations I had regarding the Axis boat are as follows: (1) the speed control worked flawlessly with no surging; (2) the dash and guages were easy to navigate and read - even for a first time user; (3) the boat is super roomy; (4) the tower is rock solid - even though you love or hate the styling; (5) the factory interior system is nice; (6) the tower speakers are ok, but there's not a factory tower speaker made that I would leave on any of my boats; (7) the fit and finish of the boat was truly better than I anticipated. No, I'm not going to say it was a plush as my friend's VLX. No, I'm not going to say I like it as much as the interior of my 230's. However, the interior of the Axis boat is nice, big, solid, and understated. No, every hinge, trim ring, and cupholder is not billet aluminum gold plated diamond encrusted bling bling, but it is still nicer than 99.9% of the boats on the water. The wakeboat game has gotten somewhat out of control with the options that are offered on these boats. If you can afford it or get a deal on it, all the accessories are nice to have - that's for sure (I'm going to love the navigation option on my new 230...) However, I never felt like I was in a "budget" or "price point" boat when I was in the Axis. I would roll that boat to any wb tournament and proudly dock up with any X45 or LSV. If anyone had anything to say, I'd just flip the switches for the ballast and plug and play, watch the hull sink a foot in about 7 minutes, drop the wedge, throw the hater a line and see what he has to say after taking a set....

Sorry for all the ranting. I just had a great weekend in a great boat and wanted to share my experience. You guys will have to deal with another one of these when I get my 230 (hopefully this week). Unfortunately, I did not have a camera this past weekend so I've got no eye candy for you guys. I'll do better next time.

[STANG KILLA SS]

i love it when the factory gives me a brand new boat for the weekend. happens all the time.


great review. awesome stoked sesh sounds like. i really like the last paragraph ont he boat itself as well.

[jjaszkow]

Great review, thanks for posting your thoughts on this boat. I was a bit concerned about the lack of the power wedge, glad to hear that it does a great job.

We are getting impatient ... two more weeks without a boat.

[dirtysparks]

No break in period???!!

I remember that power wedge vs floating wedge topic, that was a good one. Nice review.

[SilverMustang35]

Chattwake, Nice review, glad you finally got to ride behind one for a long time and glad Matt got a boat lol...
The wake is really clean and its not mushy. We have enjoyed ours for sure. We are at 32 hours now and running flawlessly. We will be making it down that way at some point to Chattanooga/Dalton area and we will need to meet up for sure.
I started at 80ft (used to riding the ol I/O at that) and im down to 75, may bump it back to 70 now and see how it does. I usually ride 23.8 but may be able to slow it down a little with a closer line.
Awesome review from a non-axis owner